Lockdown reduced drasticallyDFB court acquits Antwerp of serious charges
The DFB Federal Court drastically reduced the sentence against coach Marco Antwerp after being suspected of match-fixing. The case has finished in the sports court, but is still starting in the labor court.
The DFB Federal Court has reduced football coach Marco Antwerp’s sentence from twelve to three months for unsportsmanlike behavior. The Federal Court announced that the allegations of attempted manipulation had not been confirmed. Antwerp was given a twelve-month ban by the German Football Association’s sports tribunal on 28 August. The 54 year old man then filed an appeal.
The ruling against former Antwerp assistant Frank Döpper with a three-month ban was completely overturned by the Federal Court. Both decisions are legally binding. As coach of VfL Osnabrück, Antwerp is said to have asked athletics trainer Tim Schütte twice before the Lower Saxony state cup final on May 24 against regional league side Blau-Weiß Lohne to suggest that Lohne’s Bernd Riesselmann not play. Riesselmann was then on loan from VfL to his last opponent and has been playing in Osnabrück again since this summer.
“I am not guilty. There have been difficult months that I have gone through,” Antwerpen told the newspaper “Bild” before the appeal hearing. Based on the testimony of several witnesses, the Federal Court no longer considers it proven that Antwerp and Döpper specifically tried to influence the opponent’s line-up and the course of the match.
Antwerp “misunderstood”
Döpper has no significant influence on other people’s behavior. The court found that Antwerp was a classic misunderstanding. “But he is to blame for not making sufficient observations, for his statements being misunderstood and taken seriously, as well as for neglecting to risk interference in the competition,” explained Oskar Riedmeyer, chairman of the DFB Federal Court.
Riesselmann steadfastly refused to go through with the deployment and informed his advisors about the incident. The 21-year-old also appeared in the state cup final and scored a goal in a 4-2 win for the underdogs. After the incident became known internally, VfL Osnabrück terminated the contracts with Antwerp and Döpper, valid until 2027, without notice on 27 May. The two 53-year-old football teachers are suing the labor court in Osnabrück, which will hear the case in December.
